Capitalism
"...late capitalism is a pyramid racket on a global scale, the kind you do human sacrifices up on top of, manwhile getting the suckers to believe it's all gonna go on forever." Thomas Pynchon's novel Bleeding Edge, page 163. Capitalism may be narrowly defined as a category of economic systems in which important decisions are motivated largely by capital accumulation by individuals and firms through voluntary exchange and wage labor. David Harvey adopts a more encompassing definition of capitalism as a "social formation" in which "capital circulation and accumulation are hegemonic and dominant" in the "material, social and intelelctual bases of social life." (see p. 7 of Seventeen Contradictions) When capitalism achieves greater efficiency it is largely a product of the information content carried by price signals, something largely missing in Soviet style planned economies. Critique = Critiques of capitalism vary from fundamental denunciations of exploitation conceived in terms of the labor theory of value like those made by Marxists to complaints of deviations from an abstract or idealized capitalism made by liberals. Aaron James offers an example of the latter in his popular nonfiction book, Assholes: A Theory. On page 146 he describes "asshole capitalism" as characterized by three features: : a) incentives - affirms expansive entitlements : b) undermanagment - lacks system for moderating the worst behaviors : c) destabilization - accumulation of people given to the worst behaviors undermines necessary cooperation Indictment For all of capitalism's successes in productivity, it can still be indicted for a long list of tragic failures. * Class Privilege :: Casual Racism :: Contempt for Working People :: Superrich Pretending to be Astronauts :: Wealthy Whiners * Cultural Decline :: Culture Deformed by Greed :: Disrespect for the past, such decisions made based solely on prices when some things have value that cannot be monetized, as with archaeological sites :: News Corrupted by Sensationalism. In 2011, a political scandal erupted in Britain when it was discovered that the News Corps' News of the World tabloid had been hacking the telephones of crime victims, celebrities and political figures on a massive scale. This shameful violation of journalistic ethics was driven capitalist competition between tabloids. :: Ethical/Spiritual Conviction Reduced to "Prosperity Gospel" Christianity :: Mass Entertainment Reduced to "Reality Television" and Hollywood Film Plots Based on Comic Book Superheroes or Violent Action: note the delightful send-up of American popular culture in the 2006 film Idiocracy * Erosion of Academic Intergrity :: Low standards (falsified attendance records, grade inflation, job placement data inflation) at "For Profit" Institutions of Higher Education. Source: Kelly Field. "Faculty at For-Profits Allege Constant Pressure to Keep Students Enrolled." The Chronicle of Higher Education. May 13, 2011. A1, A10-A12. :: For Profit Research Journals Accept Fake Research :: Predatory Publishers * Fraud :: Charging Customers for Employee Obamacare Benefits Before They Go Into Action :: Cramming :: For-Profit College :: H1-B Visas Used to Steal American Tech Jobs :: Meat Glue :: Systemic Fraudulent Mislabeling of seafood in the United States, with catfish substituted for Grouper and thresher shark substituted for swordfish and mahi mahi. Source: Elizabeth Rosenthal. "Some Foul Play At Fish Market" The New York Times. May 27, 2011. B1, B4. See Overfishing :: White Collar Crime. In 2010, Eastern Livestock Co., LLC left 734 livestock producers in 30 states holding bad checks totaling $130 milion. The firm was only bonded for $875,000. Source: Kim Watson-Potts. "Eastern Livestock Fails." Farm Journal. 46 December 2010. :: Tax Evasion. In 2013, it was revealed that a massive portion of the global economy was disguised in offshore accounts and companies to evade taxes. * Loss of Freedom :: Data Broker :: Progressive Talk Radio/Sacramento Radio Market :: Private Sector Moral Police: Some Kentucky Pharmacies Restrict Access to Birth Control :: Lobbying for anti-immigrant legislation at the state level by the Corrections Corporation of America. * Incompetence :: Managerial Incompetence :: Map Quest If it doesn't know the answer it will still give you directions out into the middle of nowhere. Also it wants to sell you a hotel room. :: Mt. Gox Bitcoin Fiasco :: Mediocre Performance of Chain Supermarkets in a Competitive Market * Amorality/Indifference :: Chimerix Denies New Drug to Dying Child :: Organ Brokerage * Exploitation of the Vulnerable :: Auto Title Loans and Pay Day Loans :: College Loan Scam :: Disaster Capitalism :: Price Gouging by Hospitals :: Robocalls :: Sweatshops :: Teachers Offered Personal Loans to Pay For Their Student's School Supplies :: Tenancy Fees charged by letting agents in London to renters. :: union busting :: Wage Theft * Perverse Incentives :: Artificial Demand for domain names created by permission from ICANN to grant new internet suffixes as firms and individuals buy such "property" defensively. According to general counsel of the Association of National Advertisers Douglas Wood: "All that money is just wasted money because it's money thrown away to property rights that will never be used, never add to competition, never add to innovation, never do any of the things that ICANN is touting will be the great benefits of all these new top-level domains." :: Discouraging Creativity by restricting tinkering to protect property rights “The Tinkerers”: How Corporations Kill Creativity Alec Foege. Salon. December 30, 2012. * Threatening Health and Safety :: Economy Class Syndrome :: Toxic Tampons Sources * David Harvey. 2014. Seventenn Contradictions and the End of Capitalism. Oxford: New York. p. 7. Links * Political Lexicon * Management External Links * The Importance of Public Goods George Irvin